For the first time since its inception in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act no longer exists. House Republicans of the 112th Congress failed to renew the legislation, which is credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives by providing important protections for victims of abuse and designating millions of dollars for battered women’s shelters, [...]
My rapist was already on probation for sexually assaulting another woman when I reported him. He had admitted to sexually assaulting her and was simply put on probation.” — survivor story, Occidental College’s OSAC website The trigger warning preceding the Survivor Stories section on the Oxy Sexual Assault Coalition (OSAC) website cautions readers that [...]
There are too many damn tragic anniversaries of men killing women. Pick any month and you’ll find them. Take today, December 6–it’s the 23rd anniversary of the Montréal Massacre. Marc Lépine stormed into the city’s École Polytechnique and murdered 14 women, wounding 10 others. The mass-murderer, who then killed himself, was 25–the same age as [...]
Women’s safety advocates welcome last week’s report of a steep and long-term decline in intimate-partner violence in the United States and say it’s a good reason for lawmakers to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act before the end of the year. “It doesn’t surprise me that intimate-partner violence cases have declined dramatically,” said Kim Gandy, [...]
In light of the murder of Kasandra Perkins at the hands of her boyfriend, Kansas City pro football player Jovan Belcher, I am reminded of my own experience with domestic violence, which nearly ended my life 22 years ago. Much of the early breaking news in this story focuses on Belcher and how disturbing it [...]
Passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) should be among the top priorities of the lame-duck congressional session, say women’s rights advocates who held a “National Day of Action” in support of the bill yesterday. With President Barack Obama winning a second term and Congress turning its attention away from the election cycle, groups [...]
In an unfortunate coincidence, Ross Mirkarimi, San Francisco’s sheriff who was convicted of a domestic violence-related offense and suspended from official duty–successfully argued for his reinstatement during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which ends today. The commentary around the Mirkarimi case, as well as around the sheriff himself, misrepresents domestic violence agencies’ everyday work. The success [...]
You know things seem dire for women when you find yourself revisiting Andrea Dworkin. Not the Dworkin who’s often misquoted as saying, “All heterosexual sex is rape,” but the Dworkin who once said this: Have you ever wondered why we [women] are not just in armed combat against you [men]? It’s not because there’s a [...]
Picture a sere summer night in Phoenix, Ariz., circa 1982.* I lay on a crinkly table in a cluttered ER, joking with the doc, bribing him with a promise of homemade shortbread if he could fix my face without leaving scars, looking anywhere but in his eyes, and I noticed a police officer nearby. When [...]
Do you wonder what sexism and misogyny look like in 2012? Imagine a drawing of a woman. She’s clad only in a bra and a thong. She’s got bruises on her side. There’s an apple jammed in her mouth. And she’s stretched out, tied up, suspended from a spit and roasting over a fire. You [...]
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